In the context of cable networks, theft of service occurs when a first user subscribes to and purchases cable network services with multiple set top boxes (“STBs”) and/or cable modems (“CMs”) for a single household and then distributes the STBs/CMs to multiple households without securing and paying for separate subscriptions for the additional households. If the location of STBs/CMs could be detected with the resolution of households, once STBs/CMs belonging to a single subscription are detected in different households, theft of service fraud could be prevented.